A seven-point victory to the Melbourne Demons over Port Power at Adelaide oval, saw the real power tools on the inside of the fence, as opposed to those versions on the other side, around the ground.
Their pre-game chant of ānever tear us apartā obviously didnāt carry any weight with the Melbourne players, as that was exactly what happened during the course of the game.
This was a most āun-Melbourne like gameā in the way it was played. At various times during the match it all came down to individual efforts. This was a game where BOTH teams had ten goal kickers. It wasnāt about a dominant area of the ground for either side, it was, in a way a return to the old fashioned one on one type football.
Often we hear the coaches speak of āmomentsā in the game. Well in this game it was one moment, followed by another as each side traded blow for blow and the lead swung back and forth with the maximum margin being only 18 points during the match.
Scarily, for opposition sides, the Demons showed that if that is the way you want to play, we will beat you at that game as well.
We have often heard the phrase āa captainās goalā and certainly that happened when Max Gawn managed to kick straight after the ¾ time siren to bring the game back to near level pegging.
But that effort which tore the hearts of the Port fans out, was repeated time and time again by other Melbourne players during the game.
Led by Jack āhammerā Viney in his 200th game for the Demons, it was him against the Port mids, particularly in the first quarter, but he just kept willing himself to contest, and despite the Power breaking out to a 3 goal lead early on, the team just pegged it back, as Jack hammered the opposition into submission.
When needed it was Ben āthe drill ā Brown who nailed shots from long range, that never looked to deviate from straight and true.
It was Alex āreciprocating sawā Neale-Bullen who kept coming back and forth to the contest, and probably playing his best ever game for the side, at a time when that was exactly what was needed.
Then it was the turn of Caleb ā buzz-sawā Windsor who sped past the floundering Port defenders to record his first ever major for the Demons.
Another was when Bayley āPolisherā Fritsch calmly went back with only a couple of minutes to run on the clock and split the big sticks from on the boundary line.
Down in defence the āFire extinguishers ā of Jake Lever and Trent Rivers, kept blanketing any potential outbreaks coming from the Port forwards. But this was also about the whole fire crew of Tom McDonald, Blake Howes, Marty Hore and Christian Salem coming just in time to put paid to any spot fires which might develop. Even more impressive was that despite an incredible 66 inside 50s and the Fire Chief of Steven May being absent, all these individual saves simply denied Port a winning score.
In the middle it was the āgrindersā of Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Tom Sparrow alongside Jack Viney who had the job to just wear down the Port mids. Make no mistake, they had a seriously good combination, and by all statistical measures, they were ascendant.
But like last week against the Hawks, the stats just donāt matter, when the quality is what is being sought. To reiterate what Simon Goodwin said āwe are comfortable with that, unless it has scoreboard impactā!
So the Demons power tools all over the ground did indeed ātear them apartā . The toothless voices heard before the match, like their black and white counterparts in Melbourne were seen streaming from the ground before the match finished.
Perhaps they realised their team didnāt have wings, but was never going to fly like the Power of the Melbourne Demons.
MELBOURNE 3.2.20 7.3.45 10.4.64 15.6.96
PORT ADELAIDE 4.1.25 7.3.45 10.8.68 13.11.89
GOALS
MELBOURNE Brown 3 Fritsch Neal-Bullen Sparrow 2 Gawn Langdon Oliver Pickett Viney Windsor
PORT ADELAIDE Byrne-Jones Finlayson Rioli 2 Dixon Evans Houston McEntee Marshall Rozee Soldo
BEST
MELBOURNE Neal-Bullen Gawn Petracca Rivers Viney Oliver
PORT ADELAIDE Drew Houston Rozee Wines Butters Soldo
INJURIES
MELBOURNE Nil
PORT ADELAIDE Boak (head knock)
REPORTS
MELBOURNE Nil
PORT ADELAIDE Nil
SUBSTITUTIONS
MELBOURNE Taj Woewodin, replaced Jack Billings in the fourth quarter
PORT ADELAIDE Jase Burgoyne, replaced Francis Evans in the third quarter
UMPIRES Hayden Gavine Alex Whetton Robert Findlay Martin Rodger
CROWD 38,105 at Adelaide Oval